Kenyan athletes set to benefit from partnership between NOC-K and Cuba

Kenyan athletes from both the junior and senior category are set to reap big from the newly-found partnership between the National Olympic Committee of Kenya and Cuba.

The partnership was sealed when Juan Manuel Rodriquez Vazquez, Ambassador of the Republic of Cuba today paid a courtesy call to NOC-K

The Ambassador was received by NOC-K President, Paul Tergat and members of the Executive which included the Secretary-General, Francis Mutuku as well as first Deputy President Shadrack Maluki, and second deputy president Waithaka Kioni.

Welcoming the Ambassador, Tergat noted the rich sporting history of the Republic of Cuba over the years, including its huge medal haul over the years at the Olympic Games and the diversity of sporting in the country.

Cuba has won 84 gold, 69 silver, and 80 bronze medals respectively at the Olympics, a great sporting feat indeed for any nation at that level. Cuba is also the most successful country that has participated in the Summer Olympics without ever attending the Winter Games. They are also the fifth-highest number of medals among the countries that have never hosted the Olympic Games.

“NOC-K is keen to leverage sports to contribute to sports diplomacy between peoples and nations using our incredible athletes to promote warm relations and partnerships because one of the Olympic values is friendliness," he said

Cuba has a lot of opportunities for Kenya to learn from that would be of great value to our athletes through an exchange program such as coaches training, and IT applied to sports collaborations, among many other sport and academic exchange programs.

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Tergat also expressed appreciation for the Ambassador visit and observed that NOCK has undertaken tremendous initiatives to enhance the capacities of athletes to achieve high performances at the top level by providing opportunities to get modern technical training.

Cuba would therefore be a key partner in this objective to give a support system well equipped with modern trends such as coaches. The partnership is also looking to help in developing the youth teams through the youth program by NOC-K which sees a camp for the young athletes every school holiday with one scheduled for December after a successful second one held in April at Kenyatta University.

“We will not only be looking at the older elite athletes but also the young ones who hold the future of our sports as a nation. Ensuring they get the right experience at a young age puts us at a very good place in terms of preparation for competitions and junior development in the country,” said Tergat.

The Ambassador thanked the NOC-K team for the reception and acknowledged the good work Kenya was undertaking to remain a major sporting nation and Olympic Movement member.

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He said that Cuba was keen to explore how the two countries through their NOCs can work together leveraging their comparative advantages for the benefit of the athletes and people of the two nations.

“We are open to partnering with Kenya to see how we can develop and share expertise in the various sports that we are good at as a country, Boxing is one of the sports we are known for but we are looking to go beyond that and we can also learn from the sports that Kenya is greatly known for. I believe that moving forward we will explore the opportunities that are available for us to get experience in Cuba because we reckon they are a great sporting nation," he said.